When Georgia Southern freshman midfielder Alhaji Tambadu got his second yellow card of the match in the 25th minute followed almost immediately by a Clemson goal, hope seemed bleak for the Eagles to upset the No. 5 team in the country.
But when GS sophomore midfielder Josh Bronstorph knocked in a penalty kick just after halftime, the score was tied 1-1 and the Eagles ratcheted up their defense. There was a chance for a monumental upset.
For the rest of regulation, neither team scored even though Clemson had 16 shots to GS's 4. The back line for the Eagles, including sophomore Justin Little and freshman Victor Gustafsson, stepped up and made each Clemson chance as difficult as possible.